A change in the weather on the California coast meant that we changed our plans, and headed inland to Death Valley. Who remembers being dragged out of bed at 4am to pack and see the sunrise at Zabriskie Point? Continue reading
Having collected the van, bought provisions, and had a fairly fraught trip through San Francisco, we headed North. We spent a couple of nights at Petaluma to rest and do the laundry, then headed to the coast. The pic above is at Point Arena Lighthouse. Continue reading
We have had such a good time here in San Francisco, our time has flown by, and today we pick up our camper van. We have decided to stay close by for a couple of days, we hope to find a camp site on the other side of the bridge. It’s surprisingly easy to escape from the city, bus travel is very cheap, the bridge is situated in a National Park and it’s very rural. Yesterday we “hiked the trails” as they say, and walked from the bridge to Baker Beach. The vegetation is almost the same as we have at Birdlings Flat – lots of the same plants!
We have had a very busy 4 days in Sydney – yesterday we were out for 10 hours, and mainly on our feet. The day before, we had walked into town and back 3 times, 30 minutes each way, supposedly to rest in our room, but decided all the walking was negating the rest!
The Queen Mary 2 was in Circular Quay, and looking beautiful, just like an ocean liner, and not like a floating block of flats, which most of the cruise ships do these days. We went over to Manly on the ferry, had fish and chips at the beach and gelato at the wharf, and then came back.
Here we are in Sydney again, after a VERY early start. As soon as we got off the aircraft we were reminded how hot and humid it can be here.
The hotel is pretty good, quite central, so we’ve been able to walk around, trying to remember whether the buildings are the same as last time we were here. At Darling Harbour, the Convention Centre is being demolished – just like Christchurch, really.